The present invention relates to sanitary devices and more. particularly to a novel toilet seat raising apparatus that allows the user to automatically raise and lower the toilet seat without using their hands and without touching the seat itself.
Many prior art toilet seat lifting devices are known, which permit the user to raise the toilet seat by stepping upon a pedal. By the use of levers, rods, cables, or fluid displacing pistons, the force of the users foot is transmitted to the toilet seat, so that the seat may be lifted without soiling the hands and without the inconvenience of bending down to reach the seat.
Although some such prior art devices are functional, they have not achieved wide acceptance and use in the United States. This lack of acceptance is believed to be due, at least in part, to several disadvantages inherent in the design of the prior art devices. Some devices, such as that disclosed in the Kemp U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,016 are mechanically complex and could therefore be prohibitively expensive to manufacture. Simpler and perhaps less costly devices, such as that disclosed in the Svedelius U.S. Pat. No. 1,999,070 have failed to provide any form of adjustment to fit toilets of varying heights. Some prior art devices must also be rigidly attached to the toilet and/or to the floor nearby to permit proper functioning. A practice of rigid, permanent attachment has made cleaning of the toilet unnecessarily awkward, since the device may not be easily removed for regular cleaning.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel foot actuated toilet seat lifting device having a toilet seat attachment bracket that can be secured to different widths of toilet seats.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel foot actuated toilet seat lifting device that has a telescoping lifting arm assembly which allows the invention to be installed on toilet seats of varying heights.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel foot actuated toilet seat lifting device that can be quickly and easily installed or removed from the seat of a toilet.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a novel foot actuated toilet seat lifting device that has a fluid pressure cylinder with a bleed screw so that the speed at which the toilet seat lowers itself can be adjusted.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel foot actuated toilet seat lifting device that is economical to manufacture and market.